The Eloth
"We have proven ourselves worthy of the Stars through bloodshed, fallen tears and redeeming penitence. Have thou proven thyself worthy as well?" - Great Matriarch Takk Broadside The Eloth (Elath, in singular) are a tailed reptilian species born in the oceanic planet of Ageth, within the binary system of Leness. This horned, heavy humanoid species has endured the struggle of millennia-long inner conflicts that led to the cataclysmic near-extinction event known as the Great Plague, which threatened them with oblivion. Since then, they have rebuilt their society into an egalitarian and highly meritocratic global state ruled by an oligarchic council of worthy proven individuals. In the state, everyone, no matter condition, birthplace or sex, has the same opportunities. This seems like a paradise, but in reality it means that every individual, no matter who, has exactly the same resources to kickstart a life career, and has to fight and compete to achieve their goals in a very hard environment. If the individual is born gifted, everything will be easier; but if is born handicapped, no one will come to aid. Biology Note: in this section, gendered pronouns are used to refer sex. Elath gender is non existent. Physical characteristics The Eloth are bulky, heavy and dense reptiles, with a maximum of 1,80 m in height without taking in account the horns, and a maximum weight of 150kg. Their shape is vaguely humanoid, but wider in the torso. Their head is triangular, with a carapace of hardened scales on top that culminate in two curved horns. They lack lips, but possess a relatively strong jaw. Their teeth are conical in the front, but molar-like in the back. Both arms and legs end in wide hands and feet of four digits each. In both hands and feet, the digits can dislocate to some extent. This, combined to the extension of a fine skin layer between them, creates swimming surfaces when in water. They posses a strong tail, nearly as long as their legs. When swimming, this tail is used to steer themselves. Their entire spine has a special locking mechanism, that allows them to swim propelling themselves with curves in the dorsoventral axis. Anatomy and Physiology Diet, Fat tissue and Thermoregulation Their diet is omnivorous, and consist mainly of fish, other water dwelling animals, algae and fruit. They take their vitamins and sugar intake from fruit and algae, and their protein and fat intake from the animals they fish. The way they process fat is fitted to an active swimming lifestyle. It is stored mainly in al thick layer under the skin, perforated with blood vessels that carry salt from the skin. This layer helps to maintain heat when in cold waters. But if the cold is extreme, even for the fat layer, it makes the blood vessels to contract.That can affect the excess elimination of the salt in the skin, which can accelerate dehydration. That's why there are few Elath populations in polar regions. The fat layer also is the primary energy store for the muscles below. Eloth are genetically predisposed to fat accumulation, because of the thermoregulation and the energy storage. That's why they need to burn it regularly with physical activity, or they will gain wight quickly. They're system is tuned to expect lots of hours of daily exercise, mainly swimming. It doesn't take long for a sedentary Elath to become obese. In modern Elath culture, students have hard physical programs and it is considered socially mandatory to be fitted both physically and mentally: nonetheless, they live in a strong, competitive meritocracy. Excretion Excretion is a complex process in Elath physiology. Given their oceanic homeworld, the Eloth are heavily exposed to high concentration of salts, and therefore they require a very efficient system to control their own metabolism and maintain homeostasis. It is mainly done with an organ called "the kidney", a big organ located in their abdominal cavity. It is heavily connected to the endocrinal, cardiovascular, immunological and digestive systems and its primary function is to process waste material out of the bloodstream and let it out the body. There is a projection of the organ, called The Salt Gates or the Digestive Lobe, which is connected to the early digestive system, where it filters and extracts the salt out of the water consumed when swimming and pumps it directly to the main organ, where it is processed and expelled, avoiding the dehydration of the subject by osmosis when swimming and diving. This renders the individual effectively able to drink sea water. This process, though, is far from perfect, and such an Elath can actively consume in their diet so much sea water before they starts to dehydrate. Those salts that go to the urethral duct are processed into ammonia, making the Eloth ammonotelic. This ammonia is excreted via urine via the urethral orifice, close to the anus and the genitalia. There are peri-urethral glands, akin to those at the skin, that add an amount of substances to the urine, adding odors to the already strong fragrance of the ammonia. This is used in land for the territorial marking. The glands, both urethral and epithelial, only activate when in land. This metabolic process is really expensive requiring a lot of water to process few grams of nitrogen. The Eloth, though, spend most of their time within water, so it is an abundant resource. And the kidney is a very plastic organ, having its own subset of the peripheral nervous system at its disposal, called the Nephritic System, which allows the organ to "learn" and adapt its processing to the salt conditions of the water. This has made the Eloth a very adaptable species, as long water is present. Given the aforementioned cost in water of the process, if it is not found in high quantities, an Elath will dehydrate and die off. Their skin is just not capable to retain enough moisture. Another function of the kidney is that of detoxify the bloodstream. There are lymphatic nodes connected to it, ready to attack possible threats. Also, lots of toxin removal specialized cells work within the organ to process any strange substance that may be found within the bloodstream. This allows the Eloth to dive in lots of different environments without fearing poisoning, at least with medium exposures. Because of the Salt Gates, this function applies to ingested substances, meaning that the Eloth are as difficult to poison orally as with blood toxins. This has its problems: an Eloth will need to consume huge amounts of a medicine to produce an effect. The kidney, given its constant hard work in removing salt and toxins, is the second most easily damaged organ after the Labyrinth. Their scaly skin is able to retain moisture, but it needs to be thin so the salts in the water can pass through it. They are accumulated in the epithelial excretion nodules, making the skin actually more concentrated than the sea around it, allowing and inward flow of water, preventing dehydration. The excess of salt in the skin is passed to the bloodstream, and processed by the kidney. When in land, the situation reverses: the air is less concentrated in salts, which force the ions out the skin (using both blood water and accumulated moisture in the scales) in a form of sweat. This adds another reason for the constant need of water the Eloth have: if they are in the air after long exposures of sea water, they can dehydrate. This nodules are, as the kidney itself, very plastic, allowing the Eloth to adapt to different waters with different salt-concentrations. They also have connected other glands with communicative functions, akin to those in the urethra. Respiration "It is impressive how the labyrinthine structure that hides behind the organ so vulgarly known as neck-nose in my most missed homeland allows our kind to actually breathe under the dark waters as the fish we eat, in a nearly divine manner. And it is even more impressive how such an important structure is so fragile and susceptible to illness and rot" Yog "the Doctor", talking about Yog's Organ, in "''Anatomy of the Kindred", ''1658 AFE Eloth breath oxygen thanks to two big lungs within their chest. This two pulmonary sacs fulfill two main functions: respiration and buoyancy. Respiration is accomplished in the regular manner, when the chest bones expand, expanding the lungs with them and letting the air in. Then, the muscles relax the bones, letting the air out of the lungs. The tricky part comes with the buoyancy. The tracheal conduct of the Eloth is a complex structure that allow a really fine control of the air flux. Such complexity is used as well by the syrinx for communication purposes. Such is that control, that an Elath can fill their lungs completely and seal them with the tracheal sphincter, located at the end of the windpipe, or let an amount of air out at a specific and planned velocity only to seal the lungs again and end the air stream. Therefore, they can use their own lungs as efficient swim bladders. But, the real jewel of Elath respiration comes with the Yog's Organ, also known as Labyrinth or Fishing Net, because of its unique structure. The organ is a complex network of blood vessels connected directly to the main brain arteries and veins. It is located at the base of the head and it is connected to the outer world via two apertures commonly known as neck-nose or gills. This organ has the function of extract oxygen from oxygen-rich waters and perform a form of gas exchange, not as efficient as that of the lungs. Given its connections to the central nervous system, the organ becomes a direct supplier of oxygen to the brain during long periods of diving, allowing the Elath to effectively breath underwater, at least for some time. Hence, Eloth can dive for extended periods of time without worrying for long lasting damage, and, if aided with oxygen saturator systems, such the ones in modern military equipment, that increase the concentration of oxygen in the influx of water that is being fed to the organ, an Elath can stay indefinitely underwater. This organ remains completely sealed from the exterior when in land, because it is fragile in extreme and it is directly connected to the brain and the rest of the nervous system. An infection caused by dirt or wounds on the organ can compromise its function, damage the brain tissue causing cognitive problems and even kill the individual. But it opens underwater, where it's needed. There is a nervous mechanism called the Yog's Reflex that regulates this action. If the Elath wets and chills its snout tip, the reflex activates, opening the gills, sending large amounts of immune cells to the closer nodules (periyogian lymphatic nodules) and producing other changes such the adaptation of the eye lenses to underwater vision. If an individual does that in land, they exposes a direct entrance to their brain. Because of the visual change, kids usually do that for fun, only to be hardly reprehended by their parents or legal tutors for such reckless behavior. Such is the fragility of this organ, that in Eloth and closer species, a carapace of hardened scales has been developed to protect it when closed. In Eloth, this scales also have communicative function and have been elongated to form the horns, given the territorial nature of the species. The connection between this protection and Yog's Organ is found even at a genetic level. Some rare individuals are born with a condition called "aceratism", in which the subject has no horns or even any trace of hardening; and with partial or even total atrophy of the Yog's Organ, suggesting that the genetic markers that control it's development also control that of the carapace. This affected Eloth don't live past the third year of age. Nervous system Reproduction The Eloth are sexual animals, having two main variants: males and females. They present a nearly non existent sexual dimorphism, meaning that they are, in average, equal in size and shape. The only difference appears in the genitalia and the associated hormonal processes. Elath males present two hemipenises connected to internal testes, completely dissociated from the urethral duct. They are used as intromittent organs and can function independently and at the same time, although only one is usually used. Each hemipenis is connected to both internal testicles. The testes themselves have special circulatory associated that cool the arterial blood from the hear by placing those arteries close to veins that contain cooled blood from the skin. In some fully-terrestrial relatives of the Eloth, the testicles are external, meaning that, during Elath evolution, the testicles remained in the body cavity for swimming purposes, probably to reduce drag in water, the same way the horns can interlock with the neck when in water. The hemipenises, though, are external. When swimming, they contract to reduce surface, but in land they grow to their basal size, big in relation to the body. In other Eloth relatives, the hemipenises are long and colorful, which could mean that they are organs controlled by sexual selection. The Eloth hemipenises, while big, are not as relatively long and ornamented, which is probably due to the extreme monogamy of the species, in which sexual selection is nearly zero. Although males can have sexual intercourse whenever they want, their sex drive is highly increased when females are fertile, in response to the sexual pheromones they produce. This phenomenon is so strong, that in heterosexual couples sexual intercourse usually occurs in this fertility window. In females, there is only one entrance, again dissociated from the excretory system. This entrance has the femenine counterparts of the hemipenises, the hemiclitores. Short, both of them are activated when sexual intercourse. The sexual cycle of Elath females is complex. The ovaries are really sensitive to the calcium levels within the bones. When they come to age, Elath females have accumulated calcium deposits in their bones, which stimulate the ovaries. Then the first ovulation starts: the ovaries produce a cocktail of hormones that destroy part of the calcium deposits and use the free minerals to produce a single egg shell. Other changes happen: the bones themselves dislocate, increasing the size of the female in order to accommodate the forming egg in the abdominal cavity. Once the egg cell is encased in the shell, the egg start its first stage. It's small, and the shell is thin. In this stage, the skin glands in the female skin are stimulated by the hormones to produce sexual pheromones. Is only in this stage that females are sexually actives. If it is fertilized, it will grow, using the rest of the calcium deposits and other resources to produce a rich yolk. Then, in full size, inside the now bigger female, the embryo will develop until hatches inside the female, and then crawls his or her way out the mothers womb through the vaginal entrance. Then, the female returns to her original size, and wont be able to produce another egg in years. That's because the calcium levels are at minimum, and she has to accumulate new deposits. This allows the couple to focus in raising their newborn children, which comes to the world underdeveloped. This makes the Eloth very K-extremists. If the egg is not fertilized, after two weeks it is expelled, and usually consumed, and the female return to her usual size. Given that most of the calcium deposits still exist within the bones, she well return to this fertile stage in a few months. Both male and non-fertile females have special skin glands that are stimulated by a constant low flow of sexual hormones that start after the first ovulation and the testicular awakening. This glands secrete a special fragrance for each sex, marking them as male or female in the chemical channel. Females in fertile stage, as explained before, secret potent sexual pheromones. The Sexless There is a third variant among the Eloth. They are called Sexless, and before this name they were known as the Barren, the Big Children and the Barren Strain. They are individuals with no genitals or sex drive whatsoever. They are a result of a genetic anomaly. The sexual determination within the Eloth depends of two chromosomes: S1 and S2. the S11 combination corresponds to males, while the S12 one corresponds to females, meaning that is the ovum who determines the sex of the newborn. Both chromosomes interact during the embryonic development and the result is the expression of certain receptors over the gonad precursor organs. Depending on the receptor structure, the sexual hormones within the egg produce the development of one testes or ovaries. Once the gonad precursors organs are differentiated, they start to produce sexual hormones in higher concentration, which controls the development of the rest of the genitalia, the skin glands, the calcium deposit endocrine pathways in females and the neural pathways that control sex drive and sexual orientation. In the Sexless Eloth, this process never occur. Certain alleles of some genes can, if combined properly, block the interaction between the two chromosomes. This interruption makes the receptors to be never expressed. With them missing, no genitalia are formed, and therefore the skin glands, the neural pathways and, in S12 Sexless individuals, the calcium deposit system are never developed. The result are individuals with no sex odor, no sex drive and no sexual orientation, and instead of regular genitalia, they have the internal precursor gonad organs. They are immune to hormonal therapy, because they lack the very receptors for the hormones of the therapy. It can't even stimulate the skin glands, because of the same reason. Non-sexually-wise, this completely asexual individuals are regular Eloth. The alleles that can cause this condition were not common prior the Great Plague, and the Sexless population was very low. But, during the Great Plague, those same alleles proved really efficient in immunizing the Eloth to the biological weaponry that caused the cataclysm. That plus some other gene drift processes, made that the surviving population had lots of potential parents of Sexless individual. Given that their increased presence in the remaining Elath population made their reproduction even slower that it already was, because less potential partners were present, the Sexless were socially discriminated, even when they had the same legal rights and obligations. This changed in the last years of the Pre-FTL Council of Ageth, prior to the Expansionist Revolution. Kaepp Stargazer, the important scientist, was the first Great Oligarch, the title for Sexless rulers, which they them-self coined. And, prior to her rise as Great Matriarch, Takk Broadside presented, within her famous memorandum that kickstarted The Expansionist Revolution, regulations to improve the situation of Sexless Eloth. For instance, the prohibition of terms such as Barren Strain, and the promotion of the term "Sexless", used in this article. Behavior Social Dynamics and Territoriality Communication Reproductive system Evolution History Prehistory (10,000-3,000 BFE) First Age of Metal (3,000-2,000 BFE) Second Age of Metal (2,000-1,000 BFE) Age of the Empire (1,000-0 BFE) Age of Pirates and Kingdoms (0-1,600 AFE) Age of Nations (1,600-1,900 AFE) 100 Year War and the Great Plague (1,900-2,000 AFE) The Council of Ageth, pre FTL (2,000-2,200 AFE) The Expansionist Revolution or The Age of the Stars (2,200 AFE - ) Culture Language Social Organization and Education Meritocracy and Name system Military Gastronomy